Probiotics are living microbial food additives, that have beneficial effect on the microbiological balance of the intestine and human health. Probiotics are used as functional food. Functional food is foodstuff, consumed additionally to usual food and containing bio-preparations (incl. probiotics) or other components favourably influencing human health or decreasing disease risks. Probiotics are consumed as components of food (probiotic yoghurt or cheese) or non-food preparations (lyophilised microbial cultures).
Most of probiotics are lactic acid bacteria, mainly lactobacilli. Lactobacilli are non-pathogenic micro-organisms, colonising the human intestinal and urogenital tract from early childhood to old age. Nowadays, several commercial probiotic lactobacilli are successfully used, among which Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (Saxelin M. Lactobacillus GG—a human probiotic strain with thorough clinical documentation. Food Rev Int 1997; 13:293-313) is the best known. Recently some new strains of lactobacilli have been described and patented, for example L. reuterii (Korea patent KR211529, C12N 1/20, Korea Institute Science Technology, 1999), isolated from animal organism and for this reason inappropriate for human usage.
Several strains of Lactobacillus fermentum are used for correction and stabilisation of intestinal micro-flora in case of dysbacterioses and urogenital infections with different ethiologies. The strain of micro-organism Lactobacillus fermentum 39 is used for producing the bacterial biological preparation (PCT/SU89/00264 (WO 91/05852), C12N 1/20, A61K 35/74, University of Tartu, 1991). The strain Lactobacillus fermentum 90-TS-4 (RU2133272, C12N 1/20, A61K 35/74, Akivo Lentsner et al., 1999) is characterised by lectin typing as a mannose-sensitive profile of the cell wall. The preparation is prescribed for use in gynaecology.
There are some well-known probiotics, targeted against only one pathogen (for example Salmonella) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,557, A61K 35/74, US Agriculture, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,577, A61K 35/74, US Army, 1994). Up to the present no strain of lactobacilli with an extensive anti-microbial effect against numerous pathogens and opportunistic pathogens has been described.
Likewise, yet no such strain of micro-organism is known that could have natural antibiotic resistance against drugs most frequently used in the treatment of infections. This property would permit to use such strains in case of antibiotic-treated patients. A set of different micro-organisms is used in veterinary, containing also one strain of L. fermentum, but this strain does not have a concurrent anti-microbial and anti-oxidative effect (RU2119796, A61K 35/66, Zakrõtoje aktsionernoje obshestvo “BAKS”, 1998).
Anti-oxidative preparations like vitamin E and C, betacarotene a.o. nowadays get much attention in connection to healthy nutrition. Excessive formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in tissue respiration can cause the damage of cells and the course of tissues. The formation of active oxygen may depend on some stress factors, such as alcohol, peroxides, and some drugs.
Usually excessive oxidation is closely connected with nutritional diseases, age, arteriosclerosis, misfunctions of the central nervous system and the intestinal tract, cancer a.o. pathological conditions. An organism has several defence systems against the toxigenicity of oxygen. It is important to take anti-oxidative substances to guarantee the functioning of these systems.
Of known solutions, the closest to this invention is the patent describing anti-oxidative food, an anti-oxidative preparation and a method of antioxidation (EPO649603, A23L 3/3472, A23L 3/3571, Otsuka Pharma Co Ltd. 1995). The object of this invention is a preparation that contains a natural substance involving mangan (leaves of tea plant) and the micro-organism Lactobacillus plantarum that produces catalase and a superoxidase-dismutase system, thus increasing the anti-oxidative activity of the host organism. The authors of this invention declare that the preparation prevents diseases developing due to active oxygen. However, they do not describe the effect of particular Lactobacillus strain with a decreasing anti-oxidative activity or capturing hydroxyl radicals in vitro. Besides that, this strain of micro-organism is also imperfect because for getting the presumable anti-oxidative effect in an organism (in vivo), it is necessary to add some Mn-containing raw material (leaves of tea plant) to the preparation, because it is only in this case its SOD (superoxide dismutase) activity is realised.